Twitter Launches First Brand-Led Digital Sports Betting Series in Canada

  • The launch of “Game Plan” represented firsts for Twitter, OLG, and social digital agency so.da
  • The collaboration will roll out over 800 pieces of exclusive sports content in the months to come
  • First guest Joe Montana picked the Cincinnati Bengals to win the Super Bowl
  • An OLG exec said the show offers “one-of-a-kind insights and sports wagering content”
Canadian sports fans celebrating a hockey win
Twitter, OLG, and so.da have rolled out a new interactive digital sports betting series in Canada called “Game Plan,” hosted by Ashley Docking and Brad Smith. [Image: Shutterstock.com]

High-profile firms collaborate

Twitter, Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG), and so.da have teamed up to launch a new interactive digital sports betting series in Canada, with former NFL legend Joe Montana the show’s first guest.

OLG’s “Game Plan” made its debut Wednesday and is the tenth customized content series to roll out under the Twitter Originals Fueled by so.da program.

OLG took to Twitter with a video promoting the new show hosted by Ashley Docking and Brad Smith.

The launch of “Game Plan” came with three firsts. It is Toronto-based social digital agency so.da’s first always-on sports show, Twitter’s maiden brand-led sports wagering series in Canada, and OLG’s inaugural sports program.

The three-way collaboration will roll out over 800 pieces of exclusive sports content in the upcoming months, including new weekly episodes of “Game Plan” on a new OLG hub, olggameplan.ca, and Twitter.

show will feature weekly interviews with sporting greats and current stars

Filmed on a custom-built set in Toronto, the show is banking on Docking and Smith to “deliver digestible sports analysis to help fans make smart Proline picks on their favourite teams, games, and players,” according to a so.da news release. The show will feature weekly interviews with sporting greats and current stars, along with interactive content.

Tailored, interactive betting content

Twitter Canada’s partnerships manager, Shay Thiyagarajah, has high expectations for “Game Plan.”

exactly the kind of content our sports audience craves”

“With Twitter users being 51% more likely to have used a betting, gambling or lottery website or app, we know [the show] is exactly the kind of content our sports audience craves,” Thiyagarajah asserted.

The launch of the series comes just before the Super Bowl, and mirrors the Friday rollout of another sports betting television show in the US, “Beat the Odds.”

For the maiden show, Docking and Smith interviewed NFL Hall of Famer Joe Montana. Discussing Sunday’s Super Bowl showdown, Montana said despite Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow being a young quarterback “he doesn’t play like that.” Montana is backing the Bengals over the Los Angeles Rams to lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Describing how the “betting space is exploding,” senior vice president, marketing & so.da, Corus Entertainment, Dervilla Kelly, said entering into the content venture with OLG was exciting for her firm. Kelly added that the interactive digital series will invite fans to make wagers, explore special offers from OLG and ultimately “elevate the way fans engage with their favourite sports.”

OLG’s chief digital & strategy officer David Pridmore concurred, saying the series will give Ontarian sports bettors in “the inside scoop on entertaining and informative content.”

Full-on digital campaign

In partnership with Corus Entertainment, Twitter, MediaCom Canada, and OLG’s sportsbook PROLINE, the “Game Plan” campaign features extensive cross-platform elements. Some of these highlighted in a Corus news release include weekly three-minute Pro Picks episodes, long-form Pro Picks, episodic promotions, social videos, and polls.

one-of-a-kind insights and sports wagering content

Pridmore said that backed by 30 years of sports betting pedigree, “Game Plan” will take “the customer experience to new heights [and] opens a new window into the sports world with one-of-a-kind insights and sports wagering content delivered weekly.”

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